Friday, March 14, 2014

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Highway construction for Salween dam at Kunlong impacts local people

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 07:05 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI- March 14. Due to construction of the highway from Hsenwi to Kunlong, scores of villages have been affected but without compensation.

According to villagers, the road cuts through people's fences and houses without compensation.
Highway construction from Hsenwi to Kunlong. (Photo: SL) 

"This big project violates local people's rights, because the people lived there before the project started. Before starting the project, they should inform the people and compensate those impacted," said a youth from northern Shan State.

He added, "We have filed a complaint to a political party, but so far no response."
A local villager said, "One household's land was confiscated by the Tatmadaw (Burma Army), and then the villagers had to buy land back from Tatmadaw, then the Tatmadaw issued the land certificate for them."
Construction project in a village along highway from Hsenwi to Kunlong . (Photo: SL)

According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), there were over 20,000 people from over 60 villages impacted from the 100 km long highway that links Burma's town of Hsenwi to the town of Kunlong and connects to Yunnan, China.

Asia World Company is the contractor building the highway from Hsenwi to Kunlong and on to the Kunlong mega-dam project on the Salween River.

Researcher: Thailand’s difficulty is Burma’s opportunity

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 07:04 AM PDT

Crisis in Thailand, particularly the problematic rice pledging scheme, dubbed "a perfect storm", means "less durability" in overall Thai-Burmese relations, according to Dr Paul Chambers of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiangmai University.

Smugglers took advantage of the substantially higher grain prices in Thailand.
Dr. Thein Swe and Dr. Paul Chambers

An estimated 750,000 tons of rice from Burma were said to have been smuggled into the kingdom last year.

"Moreover, since 9 December, the Thai army has been effectively in control of the border policy," he said. "Normally, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) has a say in the matter. It no longer does."

Thailand since the dissolution of the parliament and the controversial elections held on 2 February is under a caretaker government led by Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, who is still unable to form a new government, despite being the winning party.

Thailand's investment in Burma is $ 9.5 billion, while the bilateral trade is $ 6.1 billion.
The uncertainties in Thailand have moved foreign investors away. To them, Burma has become a more attractive country for investment, following unprecedented open door policy adopted by the nominally-elected government of Gen Thein Sein since 2011.

Chambers nevertheless does not see the risk of partition and a long drawn-out civil war as in the 19th century United States during Abraham Lincoln's tenure. "If there is war, it will be a low intensity one," he said in response to a participant's question." But I don't think anyone really wants it. (Talks of partition) are more rhetoric than reality."

One thing that is common between the pro-Yingluck Red Shirts and the anti-Yingluck People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), he pointed out, is that both support a decentralized structure.

The presentation was organized by the Chiangmai-based Burma Study Center.

The next presentation will be by well known Burmese journalist Aung Zaw of The Irrawaddy, who is launching his newly published book "Aung San Suu Kyi: The Face of Burma's Resistance" next Thursday, 20 March, at the same lecture room # 4107.
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